'It's just a phase'

Month: March 2017

I shouldn’t be writing, I should be taking advantage of the fact that the toddler is actually asleep (going on one hour), but I figured if I am going to stick to this blog and be fully committed (well as much as my children and life allow me to be), then I need to sit my ass down and do it (even though I’m not technically sitting because I have banana bread in the oven and my floors are wet and I have yet to move my barstools back to the counter).

If this post is spacey, then I apologize, but if you are SO annoyed by it don’t read this blog anymore. motherhood = space cadet (I have to pause to adult, ya know like not burn the banana bread, or if the toddler wakes up, or if I finish my coffee and need a refill [unless it’s nighttime and then I must refill the wine glass… duh]).

DISNEYLAND!!!!!!

Yesterday was our third time going since my husband surprised us with our annual passes about a month ago. I LOVE Disneyland, but then again who doesn’t? If you don’t love Disney, do you even have a soul? Especially when you have kids. I mean don’t get me wrong, taking a 5 and 2 year old to Disneyland all the time is super exhausting. The two year old wants to be held the whole time we are in line (only by me), they both want every damn gift in sight (it is the worst having to walk thru a gift shop after getting off a ride, especially if it is my husband getting off of Star Tours), one wants to go do this and the other wants to go do that, and my husband wants to be lackadaisical and wander through the French Quarter (I would love to do that too… SANS KIDS), and then you throw my control freak self in the mix and it is definitely a trying day. But seeing the pure joy it brings to our kids is TOTALLY worth it. The two year old is finally comfortable enough with it being her 3rd time, and actually interacts with the characters and is vocal on the rides. Money well spent? Hell yes!

Throughout the next year of going I will be sharing my finds and my tips/tricks, if you use them, I hope you’re good at speed walking.

By now if you have read my blogs from the beginning, ya know 5 posts ago, you should know my husband is a chef.. so one of our guilty pleasures is the Disney Food Bucket List that one of my girlfriends shared with me a few weeks ago. So far we have made it through the Clam Chowder Bread Bowl served at Pacific Wharf Café in California Adventure. I love bread, but I am not the biggest soup fan. I did thoroughly enjoy this though and would definitely go back for more one day, right next to the Café is the Pacific Wharf Distribution Co., pair that bread bowl with a Karl Strauss beer and it is perfection! I personally enjoyed the Amber Ale, I did however feel like I was going to explode after eating all the chowder, bread and beer, so maybe don’t head over to any crazy rides afterwards.

The other food bucket list item we have hit is over in Carsland of California Adventure at Sally’s Cozy Cones. The Chili Cone Queso, and the Chicken Verde in a Bread Cone. I had the Chili and the hubs had the Chicken Verde. They were both super enjoyable, definitely filling for me (but I eat like a bird so that means nothing). The chicken verde definitely had a bit more spice to it, but both of us enjoy spice so not a big deal. It got the chefs stamp of approval, so winning!

That’s all of my finds that I have tried thus far. My list of “to try” is growing by the day, I happened to stumble upon a Brewhouse (by the Monsters Inc. ride in California Adventure) while we were heading out of the park that serves Micheladas with Tecate, and yes I will definitely be trying that next time. They also offer Hard Root Beer Floats, I could definitely enjoy one of those but it won’t be my immediate go-to, maybe one day later on I’ll get to one of those.

Talking about this delicious food has made me hungry, and my banana bread is done so I might as well go indulge a little bit, plus I really should finish the rest of my floors.

Toodles for now!

Xo, -Married Single Mama

— we also met Darth Vader yesterday at the Star Wars Launch Bay, my husband geeked out hard so I will leave you with this picture of him being stupidly excited to meet the dark lord —

Being genetically related doesn’t make you family. Love, support, trust, sacrifice, honesty, protection, acceptance, security, compromise, gratitude, respect, and loyalty is what makes you family.
This is something I constantly remind myself and my husband; there has never been a lack of love within our genetically related family, but there has been a lack of support, sacrifice, honesty, acceptance, compromise, gratitude, and respect. Which are major components to continuing a loving relationship, love can not be simply reciprocated because it is socially implied that you have to love someone because they’re from the same gene pool.

We’ve taken this saying and have directly applied it to our life and who we consider our family, it has simplified our lives immensely and has even made our marriage stronger since we no longer bicker about how this family member is doing this and this other family member is doing that.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been completely judgmental of my immediate family, I have a very strong ‘mama bear’ quality that sends me in to extreme protection mode when something happens that I’m like “nope, this is not okay”. I, 98% of the time, have the other person’s best interest at heart when I go in to ‘judgmental, unsupportive, unacceptance, and disrespectful’ mode. The trait that makes it seem insincere, is that I can be completely thoughtless and my radical honesty comes flying out of my mouth without even considering the repercussions. I am not perfect, and I definitely have a lot of foot in mouth moments, my husband can definitely vouch for this.

The family I am lucky enough to do life with and has chosen to do life with us is absolutely amazing, and yes it’s the family I am doing life with, not just my husband because it takes a tribe to raise tiny humans, and I could not have a more extraordinary tribe.

From my own immediate family (I am extremely lucky to have amazing parents that my kids are obsessed with), to my extremely close friends that I can spill my guts to and only get the utmost support from (I don’t know how I’d get through most days without them and they will always be a giant part of me), to my father in law and his entire family who has welcomed me in to their family as if I were one of their own; a family that I could honestly spend time with (which I have), without even having my husband around because they are my family, with or without him.

Lastly to the most important parts of my tribe, my husband and my kids. As much as I have complained about him and nag the crap out of him and all the amounts of sh!t we have put each other through, he is always going to be my rock and he is an amazing husband and father. 7 days out of the week he’s going to drive me insane, but there’s no one else I would want it to be, I know I can be an absolute crazy person and sometimes it seems like I am completely ungrateful, but please always know I am 110% grateful to you for working your ass off for this family, and for allowing me to stay home and raise these tiny yet sometimes impossible, but absolutely adorable kids. Those babes have definitely made me who I am today, I might be two steps away from a mental institution most of the time, but they are the best parts of me.

Without them I would have clean hair more often than I do, my legs shaved more than once a week, I’d still be a size 2, my home would stay clean, my brain would be less scattered, I wouldn’t be a human jungle gym, I’d actually get ‘me time’, but I wouldn’t want any of that back, because hearing ‘I love you mama’ and having those tiny little baby arms wrapped around my neck and big kisses planted all over me is honestly the best feeling in the world, even if they are big slobbery kisses half the time.
The 2 year old has awoken from her nap now so toodles for today. Hopefully my mom brain has made some sense, but I just wanted to do a quick rant on how important the people that compose my family are. I love you all, and if I don’t say it enough, THANK YOU!!

Love your tribe today, and never take them for granted.
Xo, -Married Single Mama

I saw a quote the other day that said “my three year old is basically a walking, talking middle finger to me”. I feel like this could be said about my two year old… Don’t get me wrong, she is wonderful. She is very bright, very coordinated (sometimes I hate this, because she knows it and is like hey watch me jump off the side of this couch and give you a heart attack), she is very empathetic just like my 5 year old, she can be very quirky (more than most 2 year olds), she is a little comedian in her own way, and boy is she ever a pistol. My dad continuously tells me that she is my poetic justice. I’m quietly hoping that this is just my payback now and when she is a teenager it’ll be smooth sailing… right?? hahahaha yeah right. I AM SCREWED. She definitely dances to the beat of her own drum.

Her wake up time is between 5AM and 5:15AM (she is programmed to be in GO mode as soon as she wakes up), regardless if she spent the WHOLE DAMN DAY previously at Disneyland, where she did not nap and went HARD all day. Yeah, that was yesterday and she was up at 5:15AM today. Why, child, WHY?!?!?!

She is also on this MAJOR mommy only phase. Which I mean, isn’t awful because who doesn’t want their 2 year old literally hanging on them every second of the day? ME. I know I should be cherishing it, but WHO can cherish it while they’re trying to cook their children a nutritious meal and you have a 30lb toddler clawing at your legs and demanding to be picked up and when you yell “no it’s hot, you’ll get a boo boo” they just scream more. So you try to ignore it and it just worsens until you’re momentarily deaf. This even happens when Adam tries to take care of her, like hold her in line at Disneyland, “no, mommy!!!”, or change her diaper, “no, mommy!”, or even refill her drink, “no, mommy!”. God forbid he hug me in front of her, you would think he was murdering me with how she shrieks “NOOOOOO MINE MOMMY!!!!!”.

Even with being hung on every second of the day, she definitely makes me laugh all day long, from grabbing her princesses and twirling around the room with them, or wanting to play dress up and change her gown every other minute, to how she eats (cherry tomatoes: sucks out inside only, pickles: only eats the middle and leaves the skin, quesadilla: peels apart the tortilla and only eats the cheese, grilled cheese: peels apart the bread and only eats the cheese… it could go on), to her naked dance, and so forth. She usually always has a smile on her face, and a can do attitude (even if she can’t do, she is going to try).

After I took away her “No, MINE” lipstick

She is my full on girly girl and I wouldn’t trade her for the world. Even if she does get in to my makeup and accidentally smear eyebrow liner all over her face, and then when I try to take it away I just get “NO, MINE!” screamed in my face, ya know for the 143rd time that day.

“Putting a two year old to bed who ‘isn’t tired’ is like putting your drunk friend to bed. There’s singing to themselves, requesting water, incoherent babble, crying, some weird yoga poses, hiccups, and then they just pass out.”

Hopefully I make it out of the terrible twos with some sanity left. Otherwise, you may be coming to visit me at the nearest psych ward.

This “mama, mommy, mom, mama, maaaama, mommmm, mommy, mama, mom, NO MINE, mommy” is out of brain cells to write for the night.